Can a Charter Organization limit what youth can be in their chartered unit?

[markshancock]

For years I have heard that the Charter Organization has the sole right to restrict the youth and adults that belong to their unit.

Ex: A church can choose to only allow church members to be scouts and scout leaders in their chartered unit (Ex: LDS)

 

Does anyone know of a reference to a BSA document that backs this up (or contradicts it).

I know that the BSA Charter Organization training documents state that the Charter Organization shall be responsible for approving all Unit Leaders; so, they have the right to restrict what leaders lead the unit they charter; but, I have not found a similar comment regarding youth (i.e. approve what youth can be in their troop).

 

Does that BSA explicitly authorize Charter Organization to be allowed to do this?

 

[markshancock]

Sorry for the duplicate posts. I kept getting a server error when I posted and the posts aren't always displaying.

[fred johnson]

CO can choose membership. It is an incorrect question to ask if BSA explicitly allows COs to choose members. BSA has a structure and a program. Charter Orgs choose to run a youth program using the BSA framework. I don't think BSA "allows" anything as the CO can choose / filter the youth it offers scouting too. CO's can limit membership because of unit size, religious / location / money / ... ... ... / other affiliation, etc. Similarly, units can ask members to leave for almost any reason.

 

Personally, I think this is where BSA gets in trouble. On one hand they say they offer a program and let the CO's select the leaders. On the other hand, BSA has thrown specific members out because of non-criminal issues. It muddies the water on who controls membership and who supplies the youth program.

 

References

"How Scouting Operates", Page 3, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/commissioner/pdf/33118_WB.pdf

 

Annual charter agreement, 2nd dot, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/524-182_web.pdf

 

"The Charter Organization", http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/32196.pdf ... "... to support that goals and objectives". This is about as clear as you'll find.

[fred johnson]

CO can choose membership. It is an incorrect question to ask if BSA explicitly allows COs to choose members. BSA has a structure and a program. Charter Orgs choose to run a youth program using the BSA framework. I don't think BSA "allows" anything as the CO can choose / filter the youth it offers scouting too. CO's can limit membership because of unit size, religious / location / money / ... ... ... / other affiliation, etc. Similarly, units can ask members to leave for almost any reason.

 

Personally, I think this is where BSA gets in trouble. On one hand they say they offer a program and let the CO's select the leaders. On the other hand, BSA has thrown specific members out because of non-criminal issues. It muddies the water on who controls membership and who supplies the youth program.

 

References

"How Scouting Operates", Page 3, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/commissioner/pdf/33118_WB.pdf

 

Annual charter agreement, 2nd dot, http://www.scouting.org/filestore/membership/pdf/524-182_web.pdf

 

"The Charter Organization", http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/32196.pdf ... "... to support that goals and objectives". This is about as clear as you'll find.

[fred johnson]

Last was duplicate .... I tried to edit to clean up. Tried to save when it said to a title is needed. The "Title" box is read only and I can't enter a title. Vicious catch 22.

[fred johnson]

Then when you save it says ... Error while saving content: Internal Server Error.... confusing